Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 May 12;117(19):10100-10104.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2004486117. Epub 2020 Apr 22.

News Feature: Venom back in vogue as a wellspring for drug candidates

News Feature: Venom back in vogue as a wellspring for drug candidates

Amy McDermott. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
A handful of promising new drug candidates are derived from peptides in the venom of scorpions and other animals. Image credit: Shutterstock/Bens_Hikes.
None
Drug candidate tozuleristide, derived from scorpion venom, glows green in breast tissue removed during a lumpectomy surgery. Image credit: Blaze Bioscience.
None
Insulin in the venom of the geographer cone snail (Left) acts quickly on the human insulin receptor. Autoimmune disease drug candidate dalazatide was inspired by a venom peptide from the sun anemone (Right). Image credit: (Left) Science Source/David Hall and (Right) Shutterstock/Damsea.

References

    1. Holford M., Daly M., King G. F., Norton R. S., Venoms to the rescue. Science 361, 842–844 (2018). - PubMed
    1. King G. F., Venoms as a platform for human drugs: Translating toxins into therapeutics. Expert Opin. Biol. Ther. 11, 1469–1484 (2011). - PubMed
    1. Gomes A., et al. , Ethno biological usage of zoo products in rheumatoid arthritis. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 49, 565–573 (2011). - PubMed
    1. Meng Z., et al. , Pilot study of huachansu in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, nonsmall-cell lung cancer, or pancreatic cancer. Cancer 115, 5309–5318 (2009). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Machkour-M’Rabet S., Hénaut Y., Winterton P., Rojo R., A case of zootherapy with the tarantula Brachypelma vagans Ausserer, 1875 in traditional medicine of the Chol Mayan ethnic group in Mexico. J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 7, 12 (2011). - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources